Chapter 91. Same Bed, Different Dreams (3)
Kkaddddduk.
The muscles in the arm drawing back the bowstring bulged taut.
Duduk.
Thick veins protruded on the forearm choking the old man's neck.
It was a razor-sharp standoff.
With Baek Gung-cheon's skill, he could target any part of Yeon Hojeong's exposed body behind the old man.
The problem was that Yeon Hojeong was no ordinary master either.
If he missed even slightly, the old man's neck would snap in an instant.
"……."
A heavy silence descended.
Baek Gung-cheon, who had been glaring at Yeon Hojeong with fierce eyes, slowly lowered his bow.
Yeon Hojeong smiled.
"Smart choice."
"Release the hostage."
"Looks like he has real value as a hostage after all. Can't let him go."
Baek Gung-cheon's face twisted.
Yeon Hojeong spoke up.
"What's your name?"
"I have no name to give scum like you."
"Figured as much. Then just one question."
"……."
"Are you from the same sect as Muk Bi?"
Baek Gung-cheon still didn't answer.
He had no intention of responding at all.
Yeon Hojeong tightened his grip on the old man's arm.
Duduk.
"Kkrrruk."
The old man's face turned blue.
Baek Gung-cheon's eyes twitched.
"Who's Muk Bi?"
"You don't know Muk Bi?"
"No."
"From the firing technique, body movements, and dropping your aiming stance from half a chi to one chi."
"……!"
"And you even used Dragon Fang Cannon. But you don't know Muk Bi?"
Shock spread across Baek Gung-cheon's face.
"You know Dragon Fang Cannon? Who the hell are you?!"
Yeon Hojeong was momentarily at a loss for words.
Interesting guy.
The destructive archery he'd demonstrated yesterday was truly remarkable.
That level of archery paired with flawless movement was enough to earn him the title of top master in the world.
But he was too straightforward.
Inherently blunt by nature, his honest temperament showed plainly on his face.
"I'm the one asking questions. Last chance. Do you really not know Muk Bi?"
"……I don't. There's no ghostly archer by that name."
He'd unwittingly let slip the term "ghostly archer."
But he didn't even realize it himself.
Yeon Hojeong's eyes deepened.
An alias, maybe?
That could be it.
After all, few in the martial world operated under their real names.
"What's a ghostly archer?"
Baek Gung-cheon clamped his mouth shut.
Only now did he realize his slip-up.
Yeon Hojeong continued.
"You killed Open Gang disciples. The situation's already blown up big. If you don't want to make it worse, you'd better answer honestly."
"……Let that man go."
"If I was gonna let him go, I wouldn't have grabbed him."
"No pride? Taking a powerless old man hostage with that kind of skill? Aren't you ashamed?"
"Save the provocations that won't work. This isn't a duel—it's a fight."
Yeon Hojeong glanced at the old man.
"And a powerless old man?"
"……?"
"He's got decent internal energy sealed away. Skin's sagging, but the muscles are still firm. Maintaining a body and energy like this takes serious training."
"What……?"
"Guess you didn't check properly."
Tok.
Yeon Hojeong struck the old man's pressure point.
The old man's body stiffened in paralysis.
"Even striking the pressure point gave significant rebound. If I hadn't used at least this much true energy, it wouldn't have worked."
Baek Gung-cheon's eyes wavered.
He'd seen the process clearly.
Yeon Hojeong's finger had hesitated.
It had met strong resistance at the acupoint.
To unconsciously produce that level of resistance required first-rate internal strength.
That much internal energy? How?
Baek Gung-cheon looked into the old man—Go Pyeong's—eyes.
Go Pyeong's gaze shook as if an earthquake had hit.
His mouth was sealed too, likely from the mute acupoint struck alongside.
"……Old man Go?"
The Go Pyeong he knew was an ordinary man without even a fingernail's worth of internal energy.
A hidden genius physician who'd devoted his life to medicine.
"Zixin Hong too."
Baek Gung-cheon turned back to Yeon Hojeong.
The hostage's pressure points were sealed, mute acupoint included.
Yet there were no openings.
His forearm around Go Pyeong's neck—if he squeezed even a little, the carotid would be crushed.
"Since when does Zixin Hong suck away a person's life force? Even in the gu poison family, that's extremely rare."
"……You're saying it's not?"
"Obviously."
Yeon Hojeong's eyes, glancing down at Go Pyeong, were icily cold.
"Zixin Hong is a type of sedative toxin. It clings to the internal organs, causing degeneration. It especially affects the heart strongly because it's refined once from mineral-based poison—that's its trait."
"……!"
"But it doesn't work on those with robust bodies and freely controlled internal energy. The true energy expels the toxin before it can settle in the organs. In other words, it's mid-to-low grade—useless against masters who've cultivated beyond a certain level."
Zixin Hong was a poison known only to a select few even in the black path's back alleys.
Not easy to identify even if you tried.
And few bothered to.
Stronger poisons were a dime a dozen.
It might work on third-rate thugs or common black path sects, but not on masters.
Yeon Hojeong had even been doused head to toe in it once.
And he was fine.
His Hong Cheon Qi expelled the poison the moment it was inhaled.
His heart area, protected by Vermilion Bird Qi, didn't even get touched before it vanished.
A mid-to-low grade poison poisoning a master like Baek Gung-cheon?
Ridiculous.
"So, whether he's really a physician or not, he's no weakling like you think. And you're not poisoned by Zixin Hong either."
Baek Gung-cheon's expression crumpled.
He asked Go Pyeong.
"Is what that young man said true?"
The mute acupoint prevented speech.
Baek Gung-cheon said to Yeon Hojeong.
"Release old man Go's mute point."
"No."
"What?"
Yeon Hojeong spat out cold words.
"I've stripped away the illusion and shown you the truth. But I'm not the type to show unearned kindness to strangers."
"……?!"
"What's a ghostly archer? Explain that first."
Tzutzutsu.
Killing intent rose from Baek Gung-cheon's body.
Not mere killing intent.
It carried raw urgency.
He was wasting no time.
"This isn't the time for games! Release him now!"
"You're in no position to give orders. If you don't want to waste more time, answer my questions."
"Eek!"
"Now."
He urged haste, but Yeon Hojeong's face showed no panic.
His cold expression and pressing words crushed the opponent with pressure.
In the same situation, he projected an entirely different image from Baek Gung-cheon.
Finally, Baek Gung-cheon spoke.
"A ghostly archer is a candidate for Gwanil Valley's new Yi God."
"Gwanil Valley? What's that? Some group that trains archers like you?"
Gwanil Valley was a name that shouldn't be known to the world.
But Baek Gung-cheon was desperate.
If Go Pyeong really wasn't the physician he knew, he needed to find another—fast.
"Yes."
"Never heard of that sect."
"Gwanil Valley isn't some martial world sect. It's the Kill God Cult that worships the Sun God—and exists to kill him."
The Kill God Cult—literally, a religion to slay gods.
Yeon Hojeong furrowed his brow.
Kill God Cult……?
He recalled Muk Bi's words from the past.
'Their god is lowly. That's why I hate the Saneumgyo.'
A rare moment when the usually taciturn, emotionless Muk Bi had shown anger.
"Not a martial sect, but they teach incredible archery, huh."
"Of course. The only way to kill the Sun God is archery. Like the myth where the descendant shot down nine suns, we too reach for the heavens with our bows."
Yeon Hojeong shook his head.
No clue what he's talking about.
Muk Bi had never mentioned any of this.
Still, they seemed like some kind of religious group.
Hm?
A sudden thought struck him, and Yeon Hojeong asked again.
"Not many of you, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"The archers in your group, Gwanil Valley. And what's this Yi God?"
Urgency thickened on Baek Gung-cheon's face.
"I've told you enough! Release him now……!"
Duduk.
Go Pyeong's face flushed beet red.
Baek Gung-cheon ground his teeth.
"……To become Gwanil Valley's Yi God, the ghostly archers compete among themselves."
"Compete?"
"A slaughter where they kill until one remains."
Yeon Hojeong's eyes flashed.
"The survivor becomes this Yi God or whatever?"
"Yes."
"You're not in the middle of that slaughter right now, are you?"
"Correct! So release him now!"
A slaughter to become the Yi God.
Then Muk Bi……?
Was she the sole survivor?
Then why didn't she return to claim the title?
There must be some reason.
"One last question."
Yeon Hojeong's eyes sank darkly.
Even in his desperation, Baek Gung-cheon realized it.
This question was the most important to him.
"Your current age is roughly…… mid-twenties. Height a bit under six chi, tall frame, uses a horn bow mainly, not a large bow like yours. Main technique……."
"Baek Hyang?!"
Yeon Hojeong's eyes widened.
"Baek Hyang?"
Baek Gung-cheon, who had faltered, stammered on.
"You…… know Hyang?"
An intimate tone.
Like addressing a sibling, cousin, or close friend.
"Not exactly know her…… but yeah, sounds like it."
"If it's the age and height you described, it's only Hyang. Among the ghostly archers in this competition, she's the only one in her mid-twenties. And she uses a horn bow."
"……Good. Then where's Baek Hyang?"
"Don't know."
"Don't know?"
"Not the exact location. But high chance she's near Bagong Mountain. She hasn't moved once since the competition started."
Yeon Hojeong, who had been glaring silently at Baek Gung-cheon, released Go Pyeong.
Baek Gung-cheon's eyes flashed.
Twung!
"Kuhuk!"
Go Pyeong spat out ragged breaths.
A finger wind through the air had undone the mute point.
Masterful internal energy control.
Not just arrows—he had first-rate knowledge and training in all martial arts.
Baek Gung-cheon hoisted Go Pyeong up.
Practically grabbing him by the collar.
"Is what that young man said true?"
"Kuhuk! H-how can you say that! Do you think I deceived you?!"
"……Enough. I don't need anything else. Just this one thing."
Baek Gung-cheon's eyes blazed.
Indescribable emotion overwhelmed the man before him.
Go Pyeong's face hardened completely.
"You can heal Ryeong's body, right?"
"……."
"Why can't you speak! I asked if you can cure the Seven Yin Severed Meridians!"
Then Yeon Hojeong spoke.
"Seven Yin Severed Meridians?"
Baek Gung-cheon looked at Yeon Hojeong.
Yeon Hojeong tilted his head.
"Seven Yin Severed Meridians? Not Nine Yin Severed Meridians?"
"……What?"
"Is there even such a thing as Seven Yin Severed Meridians? Excessive yin energy accumulates, freezing the Eight Extraordinary Meridians until life itself ends—isn't that the Nine Yin Severed Meridians?"
"……?!"
"Freezing just seven out of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians? That delicate a disease exists?"
Baek Gung-cheon glared at Go Pyeong.
Yeon Hojeong frowned.
"Isn't that guy just a total con artist?"